Play to Your Strengths

In the studio, selecting the right guitar for the part is more than half
the battle. Having a palette of sounds to choose from helps you play
to your particular strengths, and the marriage of creative ideas to appropriate
instruments is hard to beat. Photos by Rich Tozzoli

One of the great things about
playing guitar is that we
all have our own “thing.” As we
continue to study and (hopefully)
improve, our sense of style
develops. But with those years of
experience also comes the realization
of what we’re good at—and
not so good at. It’s worth taking
a moment to think about, and
what it means to play to our individual
strengths and the strengths
of our selected instruments.

I learned long ago that I’m
not a fast player. Working with
Al Di Meola for many years also
helped me realize that! While I
never had the ability to burn up
the fretboard, that didn’t mean I
couldn’t handle my instrument at
a high level. One of my primary
strengths is the ability to play
super tight and funky rhythms.
That doesn’t mean I can’t play
leads, it’s just that rhythm guitar
became my niche. That particular
skill I developed by practicing
for years with drum machines
instead of a metronome. I would
always try to time my hits to the
snare and overall flow of the hi-hat
patterns. Now when I play
with drummers who don’t have
good time, I go crazy.

That type of rhythm playing
also led me to study flatpicking.
Realizing that it takes a
quick wrist action to flatpick,
I’ve developed that as one of my
skills. Again, I’m not the best
flatpicker around, but I can blow
out a few cool licks when need
be. That in turn led to some
country-blues lessons, and with
my early background in Kiss,
Aerosmith, Rush, and Zep, my
style has become a hybrid of
rock, blues, funk, and country.
It all comes in handy because in
the world of TV music, I sometimes
have to call on every style
within a single day’s work.

What I’m getting at is this:
Be proud of what you’ve got. We
all know guitarists who make us
want to put down our instrument
when we hear them play, but they
have their style, and you have
yours. Everyone can do something
good, even if it’s simple. I have
one friend who’s a mid-level player,
but his barre chords are amazingly
clean and strong. I notice it
every time I hear him play. The
bottom line is simple: There are
infinite forms of expression on
the guitar, and we all have certain
skills we do better than others.

That brings us to our instruments—
the other half of this
“play to your strengths” equation.
Through experience, I’ve learned
which are the best guitars to play
for certain styles of music or particular
techniques. For example,
the scale length and frets on my
Les Paul Custom encourage me
to bend notes and rip chunky
chords. But its neck is wider than
my Les Paul Standard, so I’ll use
the latter for blues and country
licks that require crosspicking or
faster runs.

The same principle applies to
acoustics. My Martin 000-18 has
a much wider neck than my Guild
D-66. So, in addition to each
instrument sounding quite different,
each one excels in different
styles. For example, when fingerpicking,
I might gravitate toward
the wider neck, yet for strumming
Townshend-style chords, I’m
likely to choose the slimmer neck
because it lets me move up and
down the fretboard quickly.

Taking this a step further, I
play a modified Tele when I gig.
One reason is the weight of a
Les Paul is not pleasant after the
first 45 minutes, and the other is
that for me, Teles are more versatile
when covering a lot of sonic
ground. I can also groove hard
when playing rhythm guitar on a
Tele and if I do, it sings.

But—and it’s a big but—Teles
tend to fight you. They’re harder
to play, especially compared to
a Les Paul, so you have to work
them. Also, because Teles don’t
deliver as much sustain on single
notes as a Les Paul, I find lead
lines don’t have nearly the same
impact. Over the years, I’ve
developed a way of using fourths
and octaves when playing leads
on my Tele that compensates for
the missing tonality and fills up
more sonic space. On the plus
side, Teles have a certain clarity
other guitars don’t offer.

It’s important to know your
strengths and focus on developing
them, and along with that,
it’s good to learn how to play
to the strength of the particular
instrument in your hands. Don’t
get frustrated by comparing
yourself to others. Take the time
to learn what guitars work well
for your particular style, and
then do what you do best.

Rich Tozzoli is a
Grammy-nominated
engineer and mixer who
has worked with artists
ranging from Al Di
Meola to David Bowie.
A life-long guitarist, he’s
also the author of Pro Tools Surround
Sound Mixing and composes for the
likes of Fox NFL, Discovery Channel,
Nickelodeon, and HBO.

Rich Tozzoli is a composer, engineer, producer, and mixer whose work has appeared in more than 700 television series, specials, and sporting events, including the 2016 Summer Olympics and broadcasts of the NFL, NHL, and NASCAR. His resume as a producer and engineer is deep and includes work with Al Di Meola, Ace Frehley, David Bowie, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Omar Hakim, and many others.

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